Connelly Will Greet Reeves When the Earth Stands Still

Jennifer Connelly (Dark City, Hulk, Blood Diamond) has signed on to the remake of the 1951 scifi classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. She'll be playing the role of Helen Benson, a woman who meets Klaatu, the alien with an ultimatum, to be played by Keanu Reeves (Point Break, Speed, The Matrix Trilogy).

The film will be directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), based on a screenplay written by Ryne Douglas Pearson.

For those of you who don't remember the original (and I'm guessing that's most of you) there's a refresher after the jump! The plot revolves around an alien named Klaatu that arrives on Earth with a warning; other space-faring worlds have become aware of Earth's discovery of atomic energy and nuclear weapons, as well as their burgeoning ventures into space. They are troubled by humanity's tendancy for violence, and they will not tolerate Earth becoming a danger to them. So they are sending an army of giant robots to serve as sentinels; humanity will embrace peace, or they will be destroyed.

The film ends with Klaatu leaving, and the fate of Earth left undetermined.

It's a plot device that has been used numerous times since, in such works as James Cameron's The Abyss and Alan Moore's Watchmen.

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